ITS NO GOOD HINTING ADOLPH!

20th APRIL - MEIN GEBURTSTAG ! HINT! HINT!

So its your 122nd  Birthday - you just don't get it! (and you won't get it!) . We would not give you any gift - even if you could use it in those temperatures!.

HAPPY 9TH ANNIVERSARY - MATT AND CATHRYN DIXON !

"Years have gone by, My, My, How they fly!"
A very Happy Anniversary to you both! As the years have gone by, you have brought the real presents :
STEPHEN , JOSEPHINE, GABRIELLE and ANASTASIA!

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT!

Ever since my boyhood, I have enjoyed the thought of ships and the sea! I am a a romantic at heart- and that is part of it,But I have always considered ships one of man's most noble and worthwhile achievements.Just as the sea is one of God's most wonderful ( yes, literally wonder full) and often majestic or peaceful creations. Man's construction of a ship - be it the wooden wonders of history ,all wood and rope and tar and oakum and canvas , or the steel giants of later years - is a pledge to use his God-given intelligence and free-will to seek mastery over the elements  to use the whole of Creation more fully and achieve his greater flourishing

Being at sea is to enter onto a constantly changing scene producing bliss, exhilaration,fun, awe, terror and delight- each in their turn. It is hard to beat the feeling of coming onto an almost deserted deck and walking onto the foc'sle on a bright sunny morning to collect a steady 18knot breeze accompanied by a gentle rise and pitch of the bow in a mild sea - the salt air - better than "King of the World"- rather a joyful part of it! Then again, the fine morning after a stormy, rough night when the ship has been "pile driving", that is, her bow rising clear of the wave passing under her and then crashing down into the next ,sending a shudder down the length of her hull: out you come to find a clearing sky, brilliant sunshine and a sea still running strong but clearly becoming more civilised by the hour.

But of all the glories of man and the sea, what can excel the sailing ship?To combine the effort to achieve mastery over the elements with the achievement of beauty and grace is a wonder in itself . I have gathered together here some examples of what I mean, which I hope you will enjoy as much as I do: 

"PICTON CASTLE"

T.S. YOUNG ENDEAVOUR

"SAGRES"

U.S.S. CONSTITUTION -"OLD IRONSIDES"

H.M.S. VICTORY CROSSES THE ATLANTIC

"ENDEAVOUR"

T.S. YOUNG ENDEAVOUR HEADS T.S. LEEUWIN

"Flying Cloud"Note Stuns'sls  (Studding Sails) aloft and alow.

An English sixth rate firing a salute as a barge leaves a Royal yacht nearby

Barque "LOCH LONG"

T.S. YOUNG ENDEAVOUR

*EARLY 1960s SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE - UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

                    S.S. SOUTH STEYNE

In happier times the largest of the Manly Ferries- S.S.South Steyne used to join the fleet of small craft following the Sydney - Hobart Yacht Race fleet each Boxing Day , 26th December annually, as the great yachts raced out of Sydney Harbour, through the Heads and out to sea heading South.

On one of those occasions in the early 1960s, with my best friend and now my brother-in -law Tony Hannon, I paid for my ticket and off we went on a brilliant Summer day.It is hard to describe the sheer spectacle and excitement of those occasions, the most amazing harbour in the world, many hundreds of small craft, and at the centre of it all the great yachts . They vary in size and achievement,but handicapping ensures a wide area of interest across the field.

Our trusty South Steyne had no trouble making her way through the hundreds of small craft and, a little way to the South outside the Heads she hove to, allowing us to watch the passing parade. I had with me my PENTAX SLR Camera - very modern and moderately expensive, slung around my neck on its leather strap.I was wearing my Aviator style dark glasses- I preferred to think of them as General MacArthur glasses - but to take a photo, I whipped them off and stuck them in my shirt pocket. To get a better look to the South -following the leaders I leant out and, as I did- following the laws of nature- the straps of the camera moved outward. Unhappily , in the process, they pulled my sunglasses out of my pocket and flicked them into the sea !! Instinctively, I reached out in a futile effort to retrieve them, only to see them zig-zag downwards through the first few feet of relatively clear water. As I did so, the opened leather camera case lid caught on the buckle of my belt causing it to ride up. This caused the figure of eight shaped hole that held the case's metal retaining stud to move up to the larger hole , detached the cover and it too fell into the water and, because of its lighter , hollowed construction it floated mockingly in front of me, slowly filling with slurps of sea water.! Further instinctive moves toward retrieving it, were checked when I became conscious of a quaking of suppressed laughter all about me - quickly strangled for a time whenever I eye-balled any of the guilty parties. When I turned to Tony Hannon and saw he was having the greatest struggle of all, I at last began to appreciate the humour of the situation.

BEGAN to appreciate........I'm still working on the problem!

*1949 A LUCKY ESCAPE = GUARDIAN ANGEL ON OVERTIME!

1927 DODGE TOURING CAR

Bear with me a little longer while I'm on this automotive theme.

My best schoolmate in Primary School was Brien Dryden who lived directly opposite our house on the other (Eastern) side of  Second Avenue. Our families knew one another very well, but never did things together as many neighbours do these days. Each of  our parents would speak to us about the other's parents using "Mr." and "Mrs" so , when we operated our little scam to get parental approval of something we wanted to do the dialogue went like this :

Me :  "Mum, if Mrs Dryden says its O.K., can we go to the Pictures to-day?  "

Mum : "Well, if Mrs. Dryden says its O.K. - Yes".

Dash across the street...

Brien: "Mum, can we go to the Pictures to-day? Mrs. Dixon says its O.K."

Mrs Dryden : "Well, as long as Mrs.Dixon says its O.K.. "

DONE DEAL! It could start on either side of the street, and worked very smoothly! should add that none of the projects proposed ever had any inherent risk, until one day... but even then it could not be known.

Mrs. Dryden had a sister named Isobel who had been married, but was divorced  - an extraordinary thing in my experience. But now she had a "boyfriend" - they were both in their late thirties/ forties and his name was "Brian". He was a big fellow tall solid in build, very pleasant without being "outgoing" AND he drove a 1927 Dodge Tourer. That was a big car, especially in comparison with the English cars that had come to dominate our roads in more recent years,when U.S. currency imports were strictly controlled. Brian offered to take Brien, me and I think Isobel's little son, for a drive to the City where he had some business to do. Parental approvals were secured by the usual means and all was ready.

Brian got out the crank handle,gave it a couple of turns and the engine started easily. I was seated on the back seat RH side. It was a magnificent position high and with firm leather seats, I felt great looking down on the world passing by. All went along well once we got used to the rather heavy noise from the gear box common in cars of that vintage, and the driver's busy footwork "" double de-clutching" whenever he changed gears - no synchro-mesh when this old lady was built. However, as we went down the back way towards Pyrmont and crossed Glebe Point Road we entered on the sharp downward slope and curve to the left. Brian was energetically hauling on the HANDBRAKE! "What's up??" We asked.

"Oh! the footbrake doesn't work -  so I have to change down gears and use the Handbrake !"( The brakes on a car of this Vintage were mechanical and not hydraulically assisted in any case) I may have been only  9  years old, but I knew that  was alarming. My feeling of mastery of the Universe in my high seated position vanished. As it happened,the journey, including the return leg was completely incident free.

We pulled up outside Brien's home and big Brian got out of the car and immediately crashed to the ground in an epileptic convulsion. In  a few seconds we got adult help from the house , and in due course the seizure passed and he recovered and rested. We went our separate ways rather badly shaken...what if....only 30 seconds earlier? Mum was horrified at what might have been , and that someone knowing he was epileptic would drive, let alone take a group of children along when he did! The story of the brakes only compounded  the problems. It was obvious I owed my Guardian Angel a huge debt!

But it was a grand car!

*1948/49 MY BROTHER TRIES AGAIN - CHROMED FLUTES

1936 14 h.p. VAUXHALL TOURER--HIDEOUS COLOUR AND  SOME BARBARIAN HAS PAINTED OVER THE GREATER PART OF THE CHROMED FLUTES ON THE BONNET!

Have you noticed how difficult it is to get a decent picture of a pre-War Vauxhall Tourer on GOOGLE IMAGES?  No??Not exactly the sort of thing one attempts daily or even weekly! 

But, I wanted to show you the second car to make its way into our family. Having failed to manage the mighty 1928 Buick Business Coupe, my elder brother Pat now bought a 1938 VAUXHALL TOURER. Like the Buick it was pale blue in colour and unlike the desecrated 1936 Model in the above picture , it had its grand chromed flutes extending from the radiator , tapering along the top outer edges of the bonnet as Vauxhalls had done since the King was in nappies!

                                                  Here is the actual car .Sadly only a Black and White picture -
                                                        but that is how we lived in those ancient times

The car worked well and its most memorable characteristic was the sound its carburettor made when the starter was pressed. Wrestling the folding canvas roof up and down was a regular torture - yes , I got to help! The absurdity of the cellophane side "curtains "as I think they were called , had to be seen to be believed. They each had two metal posts at the bottom which fitted into holes in the top of the front doors and the side panels behind those doors, then when the roof was up they tucked into a double set of canvas flaps on the edge of the roof  itself! The driver's "curtain"came complete with a flap at the bottom ( accommodated by the downward slope in the door top you can see in the photo above) so that he could, with some difficulty, contrive to get his arm out to give traffic signals: e.g. Forearm at 90 degrees erect and palm open for "STOP"and arm horizontal with palm extended for a right turn!! 

My enthusiasm for driving with the top down was dampened one day, when my brother was taking us all for a drive and as we passed down Parramatta Road heading East in bright sunshine past the JANTZEN factory where my brother worked, a great fat black beetle smacked me in the face at about 30 mph! Yes folks my enthusiasm for Sedans surged and has remained high!!

The canvas roof and celluloid windows somehow never kept all the rain out - it always managed to find its way in, here and there and there and....you get the picture! The VAUXHALL TOURER still manages to hold a fond place in my memory, which I find impossible to justify other than by recalling that peculiarly pleasant starting noise from the carburettor, the great chromed flutes on the bonnet oh! and I forgot - a pair of substantial and streamlined headlights!. It held its place for a few years, but then...... 

*A NO CAR FAMILY - THEN MY BROTHER GOT HIS LICENSE

1928 Buick Business Coupe

Until 1947/48 my family was a no car family. Our neighbours on either side two houses either way were similarly bereft of mechanised wheels, as were the two houses across the street. We did not feel deprived or underprivileged .Mum certainly would never have considered learning to drive, and my Dad died aged 84 never having driven a car.

However, young and restless, my elder brother Pat who had been forbidden to enlist in the Navy in 1944, acquired his license to drive sometime in 1946/47 and after a heavy fall from a Harley Davidson Motor Bike he had bought , he decided he must have four wheels instead of two.He thus occasioned great parental relief. However there was great surprise and not a little consternation when he opened the double driveway gates ( rarely ever opened) and drove up the side level with the back verandah an IMMENSE Buick Business coupe of 1928.It was colossal and Mum was immediately convinced it was vulgar and ostentatious, my Dad had less to say and simply walked away . As for me , my opinion did not count and was not sought.......but that doesn't mean I didn't have one!! YES, YES, YES!!! I loved it  - it was a pale sky blue with dark blue mudguards - big broad mudguards and a looong bonnet ( strangely the "hood"to our American cousins) ending in a majestic radiator topped in that distinctive architectural Buick form with the characteristic ornate white "Buick "script on a blue enamel Badge. And topped off with a solid looking chrome radiator cap. The entire front end composition was set off by a pair of headlights each one worthy of a locomotive, and a pair of somewhat smaller parking lights , one at each bottom corner of the windscreen - a nice touch.. The cabin featured an upright windscreen and gave way to a curved boot ( American "trunk"- that at least made sense) lid which opened back to provide a "Dickie"Seat and the whole was concluded by another set of broad mudgaurds connected to those at the front by a set of serious running boards, This was a car to be reckoned with!

That proved to be too true. For my brother quickly started to complain about its reluctance to go around corners - weighing in at about 50% more than a large sedan to-day, and built about 25 years before power steering became common, it was apparently rather like steering a large ship . But Oh! how I would love to have the chance to drive that wonderful monster of a car!

Sadly, my young and restless brother tired of the steering battle and soon sold it , only to acquire..... but that is another story.